The invention relates generally to percussion instruments and, more specifically, to a foot actuated bass drum pedal that allows the drummer to perform rapid, multiple drumbeats on a percussion instrument synthesizer or an electronic drum set.
Drummers always are seeking ways to effectuate rapid drum beats, particularly on a base drum. Generally, the drummer causes a bass drum beat by depressing a floor mounted drum foot pedal, which causes a pivotally mounted drumbeater to strike the base drum. With electronic percussion instruments such as electronic drums or synthesizers the drumbeat generally is actuated by closing an electronic contact or actuating a vibration detecting transducer, which then electronically elicits a drumbeat. Synthesized percussion instruments and representative prior art embodiments of drum pedals used therewith are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,025, U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,279 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,485.
Prior art devices suffer from notable drawbacks, particularly that drummer foot speed limits the rapidity of generating a drumbeat. It would be advantageous, therefore, to have a drum pedal assembly that can actuate rapid, multiple drum beats with little additional effort or foot speed by the drummer.